* Pre-weekend position squaring to boost local assets
* Bond market sees new issues this financial year
JOHANNESBURG, April 4 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
regained some ground against the dollar on Thursday in
position-squaring ahead of the long Easter weekend, but gains
might stall next week as the weak global economic outlook
remains a deterrent to risk appetite.
The rand was 0.54 percent firmer at 7.79 to the
dollar by 0656 GMT after ending the previous session at 7.8320.
The currency tumbled more than 1.2 percent to seven-week
lows on Wednesday amid signs global growth is losing steam.
“Ahead of the Easter long weekend there may very well be
some position squaring that boosts the near term prospects for
the rand and indeed other EM currencies. We would not however
read too much into this,” Tradition Analytics said in a note.
South African markets will be closed on Friday and Monday
for Easter, with trading resuming on Tuesday.
Government bonds were largely stagnant in early trade, with
the yields on the benchmark three-year paper and the
longer-dated issue due in 2026 each dipping half a
basis point to 6.805 percent and 8.505 percent respectively.
“I think global currencies and bonds are a little oversold
in the short term and I would expect a little bit of a pull-back
with all markets closed tomorrow, so a slightly stronger bias
for bonds,” Investec trader Steve Arnold said.
Continued…
